Nice logo. Is that it?

The old Belk logo.

The new Belk logo.

Recently a retailer’s logo change and the public’s reaction to that change received a lot of mainstream media coverage. You know the one I’m talking about. Uber-retailer GAP changed their iconic logo to one of the most universally despised logos in history. Everyone became an Armchair Brand Strategist overnight and publicly denounced the new design. To their credit, the brain-trust at the GAP quickly changed back to the much-loved logo. Balance and harmony was restored in consumer land. Everyone on a national front got to witness a multi-million dollar bad judgment call.

Another apparel retailer, on a smaller geographical stage, also underwent a logo change as part of a rebranding effort. Belk, a southern regional department store chain, recently dumped their 122 year old logo for one that incorporates sleek, lowercase letters and a more modern font. They also incorporated a new tagline: “Modern. Southern. Style.” This was just the first step in a $70 million rebranding effort. When was the last time Belk rebranded? Over 43 years ago. The reaction seems to be more muted than the outcry to the GAP effort.

I believe the new logo is an improvement—but I wasn’t a fan of the flowing type and curlicue of the old one in the first place. Normally I don’t like logos that only use lowercase letters, there’s something that just seems gimmicky about it, but it doesn’t bother me so much with this one. But I’m not Belk’s primary demographic. My wife, however, is the embodiment of “Modern. Southern. Style” and she’s in the marketing business. I asked her opinion and her reaction was similar to mine except she quickly said “the logo isn’t the problem.” “If they want to appear to be modern they need to have someone who can properly take tried-on items and return them to the racks or shelves from the dressing rooms. Or have an area where customers can leave the clothes they don’t want to purchase. Tried-on clothes just lie about the dressing rooms and it’s a mess. The inside of the stores haven’t changed, just a logo.” The new logo was irrelevant. It all came down to a critical touchpoint that sabotaged the new brand direction.

Marketing officials from Belk have stated that over 300 stores would be re-modeled within the next year. Marketing advice hindsight is 20-20, but maybe they should have unveiled the new logo after the remodeling efforts.

USC Spotlights CDC Social Media Efforts

Looking for a great example of a “best practice” in healthcare social media? A good place to start is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

I recently attended a presentation at the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications featuring Dr. Glen Nowak, the CDC’s Chief of Media Relations. Dr. Nowak shared the CDC’s communication strategy and efforts to multiple audiences through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Daily Strength, RSS, YouTube, Flickr, iTunes, and even Second Life.

Nowak said he was originally doubtful about how successful some channels would prove to be. Case in point: podcasts. He wondered how many would listen to a CDC podcast. Turns out that number is about 50-60 thousand per month. And YouTube? During the flu outbreak last year, more people watched CDC videos within YouTube (2 million) than from within the CDC’s website (160,000). They are also exploring alt-social media such as Second Life. Last year, virtual avatar visits to the CDC island for seasonal flu shots did convert into real-world vaccinations.

The CDC is heavily focused on creating widgets and portable content that people “can take to their own (social media) places.” They are also looking ahead, testing ways to communicate with the 87% of the population that are mobile subscribers. This is critical, he notes, for all healthcare communicators when you consider the average user’s phone is within an arm’s reach for 19 hours a day.

The CDC is leveraging social media to get information out quickly, expand access to content, reach more diverse audiences, tailor and target messaging. And they are helping other healthcare communicators do the same. Check out their helpful toolkit here. And look at some of their metrics here.

Even better, please share your social media successes in the comments!

TAG writer is Lesson 11 guest blogger

When Eric Dodds of Brains on Fire came to speak at last month’s AAF meeting, it was an inspirational jab in the arm. Lucky for me, it happened the day before I volunteered on an all-night CreateAthon for local nonprofits. In my day-after, sleep-deprived haze, I tweeted Brains on Fire to share the movement-based work we created for one project. A few e-mails later, I am Lesson 11 guest blogger.

Read my post here and read other Lesson 11 posts here.

Have a Lesson 11 story of your own? Share it with them. Real-life stories like these stoke their creative inferno.